17.6.17

Miraculous story of a 4yr old girl caught by a neighbor after her desperate mother threw her off the burning Grenfell Tower to save her life

One can only imagine the fear and hopelessness felt by those stuck in
the Grenfell Tower as a raging fire licked through the building from the
ground up, trapping families, including little children. As the fire
raged and salvation seemed even more impossible, a desperate mother took
a very risky decision to save her daughter by throwing her out of their
apartment on the fifth floor.The distance from the fifth floor to the ground was
about 50ft but the mother, seeing no other way, threw her 4-year-old
daughter down, not sure whether someone would catch her or not, but she
was willing to try all the same.

By some stroke of luck, a heroic neighbour saw the child falling as
though from the sky and quickly caught her. The neighbour has been named
simply as Pat. He too seemed shaken from the incident as he tucked the
child into his chest and crashed down under a tree to take shelter from
falling debris.

The little girl can be seen in a photo with her eyes closed while her
saviour looked up at the fire above in horror. Sadly, it is believed
that her mother died in the fire which claimed several lives. The little
girl was treated by paramedics at the scene and Pat was taken to a
hospital.

20-year-old Kadelia Woods, a resident, said:

"The mum had the little girl's head wrapped in a towel and was holding
her out of the window and was screaming for help. The fire was raging
like crazy. It was about 2 a.m. and the flat was filled with smoke. Pat was calling: 'Drop her, I'll catch her'.

The mum was screaming: 'No, no, I can't!' Pat kept reassuring her and
then the girl dropped. Everyone's hearts stopped but Pat managed to
catch her like a rugby ball tucked into his chest."

Samira Lamrani, an eyewitness at the scene, said she saw a man run
forward to catch the child after a woman on the ninth or 10th floor
indicated she wanted to drop it out of harm's way.
She said:

"A woman was gesturing like she was about to throw her baby, if somebody
could catch her baby. And somebody did and a member of the public, a
gentleman, ran forward and managed to grab the baby."

Pat's heroic catch evoked great emotion in everyone who heard about it
and saw the photo. His is one of many acts of great heroism that have
emerged in the aftermath of the worst fire in Britain for decades.